Wage Rally Draws Interfaith Support

Religious leaders from around the city of Baltimore joined with state and local officials Monday to call for a higher minimum wage in Maryland.

The Feb. 3 rally, which was organized by Raise Maryland, a grassroots campaign that has been at the center of the minimum-wage movement, took place at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and drew leaders from Jewish, Catholic, Baptist and Methodist faiths among others, in addition to major political leaders such as Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Ben Cardin and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

“We’re all in this together, and we all rise or fall together,” said O’Malley to the group of 100 supporters. “A thriving middle class is not a consequence of a growing economy; it is a cause of a growing economy.”

Beth Am Synagogue’s Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg stressed the connection between religion and ensuring a higher minimum wage for workers in the state and across the country, adding that helping others to become self-sufficient is the best help society can give.

“I look out my door and I see friends, I see neighbors who are struggling,” said Burg, who lives in the same Reservoir Hill neighborhood where his congregation is located. “We need to create true economic justice in our state.”